Back in the late '70s and early '80s, comedian George Carlin did a comedy bit about oxymorons—those amusing pairs of opposite words that seem to cancel each other out. In his usual acidic manner he started with jumbo shrimp and ended with military intelligence. At around the same time, a young man in Southern California named Dan Rupple was working hard to keep the phrase Christian comedian from making Carlin's list.

Rupple was a member of the pioneering Christian comedy team Isaac Air Freight. "In those days, Isaac Air Freight and Mike Warnke were the only Christian comedians around," he says. "The church accepted us, but there was a little hesitancy wondering whether laughing in church was appropriate. Nowadays the church is ready to laugh guilt-free."

Rupple isn't joking. In fact, there are now enough Christian comedians out there to form a Christian Comedians Association, for which he currently serves as president.

Let's face it—on TV shows, in movies, and in print and broadcast news the world has gotten a picture of the Christian community that is anything but humorous. In sitcoms we're the obnoxious, self-righteous stick-in-the-mud next door; in the news we're angry protesters punching people in the face with scripture; in movies we're weak saps with an unrealistic view of life; in TV drama we're the legalistic parent who won't get medical treatment for his child because it's against his religion.

But funny?

"Christians have always been funny," says Christian comedian Thor Ramsey, "just not on purpose!" But as Ramsey and other Christians choose to be "funny on purpose," the Christian comedy oxymoron is quickly being replaced by hearty, robust laughter.

You can now find bright, faith-filled comics in clubs and churches, on college campuses and cruise ships, in corporate and conference settings, on nightly talk shows and writing for network sitcoms. And they are hilarious!

"I think Christians should be the most exuberant people on the planet," says veteran Christian comedian Chonda Pierce, author of Roadkill on the Highway to Heaven and other books (see related article). "We, who know how the story ends, should be laughing more than most. Yes, we have tough times when we just can't find anything to laugh about. But when we can, we should throw our heads back and laugh out loud, enjoying that joyous emotion God gave us as medicine."

What is Christian comedy? Well, for one thing, it's clean. "If you take a comedy bit and remove the foul language, it should still be funny," contends Ramsey. "If it's not, then it wasn't funny to begin with."

Another distinctive of Christian comedy is its style. "Christian comedians laugh at the irony of life as opposed to ridiculing individuals with put-downs that are meant to hurt," says Rupple. Anita Renfroe, Christian comedian and author of The Purse-Driven Life and If You Can't Lose It, Decorate It, agrees. "We don't slam or dishonor people. I don't do guy bashing in my concerts, even though my audiences are 90 percent female. We poke fun, but you couldn't say my humor is dishonoring to the male gender, because that wouldn't honor the Lord."